PESHAWAR, May 24: Speakers at a workshop stressed the need for enforcement of strict laws for vehicles, drivers and pedestrians to reduce road accidents on National Highways and Motorways.

The two-session one-day workshop on Road Safety was jointly organised by the National Highways and Motorways Police at a local hotel here on Thursday. The chief guest for the first session was NWFP Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah, while for the next session NWFP Inspector-General of Police Saeed Khan was the chief guest.

The speakers said that the rate of accidents in Pakistan was much higher as compared to the rest of the world, and around 7000 lives were lost every year in the country because of the road accidents.

They urged the government to update the traffic laws and create awareness among the pedestrians and drivers about the road safety to minimise the fatalities.

They said that 92 per cent road accidents happened due to violation of traffic laws by drivers, five per cent accidents caused owing to dilapidated roads and causes for three per cent road mishaps were out of order vehicles plying on the roads.

The speakers suggested establishment of a road information centre to monitor traffic on different roads for guiding the drivers about the unfrequented roads, which would also help reduce accidents and save times of the drivers.

They also suggested preparation of a volunteer traffic police force having the services of senior citizens and retired government servants to check traffic violations. Their work should be informing the traffic police about the drivers who violated the traffic laws, they added.

Dr Munawwar Sher of the Red Crescent Society, while stressing the importance of the first aid during the road accidents, said that it was important for every person and the traffic police to know about the first aid to the injured in cases of road accidents.

“In medical terminology, the first hour after the accident is called Golden Hour. If a victim is provided first aid within an hour his life can be saved,” she maintained.

Lamenting over the scrapping of first aid compulsory education by the government in 1965, she demanded of the government to restore the practice so that hundreds of lives of the road accident victims could be saved.

She said over 60 per cent of the victims aged between 15 to 45, and most of them had been bread-earners of their families. More than 75 per cent victims were pedestrians and bicycle riders, she added.

Speaking on the occasion, NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah said that the provincial government was making its utmost efforts to ensure road safety and for that purpose, it was utilising all available resources not only for the expansion of road network but also to improve the intake capacity of the communication system in the province.

He referred to the traffic laws and rules and said though certain positive changes had been brought about at the federal level, existing laws and rules at the provincial level were still outdated.